netbsd man page for verrx

ERR(3)							   BSD Library Functions Manual 						    ERR(3)

NAME
     err, verr, errx, verrx, warn, vwarn, warnx, vwarnx -- formatted error messages

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <err.h>

     void
     err(int status, const char *fmt, ...);

     void
     verr(int status, const char *fmt, va_list args);

     void
     errx(int status, const char *fmt, ...);

     void
     verrx(int status, const char *fmt, va_list args);

     void
     warn(const char *fmt, ...);

     void
     vwarn(const char *fmt, va_list args);

     void
     warnx(const char *fmt, ...);

     void
     vwarnx(const char *fmt, va_list args);

DESCRIPTION
     The err() and warn() family of functions display a formatted error message on the standard error output.  In all cases, the last component of
     the program name, a colon character, and a space are output.  If the fmt argument is not NULL, the formatted error message is output.  In the
     case of the err(), verr(), warn(), and vwarn() functions, the error message string affiliated with the current value of the global variable
     errno is output next, preceded by a colon character and a space if fmt is not NULL.  In all cases, the output is followed by a newline char-
     acter.  The errx(), verrx(), warnx(), and vwarnx() functions will not output this error message string.

     The err(), verr(), errx(), and verrx() functions do not return, but instead cause the program to terminate with the status value given by the
     argument status.  It is often appropriate to use the value EXIT_FAILURE, defined in <stdlib.h>, as the status argument given to these func-
     tions.

EXAMPLES
     Display the current errno information string and terminate with status indicating failure:

	   if ((p = malloc(size)) == NULL)
		   err(EXIT_FAILURE, NULL);
	   if ((fd = open(file_name, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
		   err(EXIT_FAILURE, "%s", file_name);

     Display an error message and terminate with status indicating failure:

	   if (tm.tm_hour < START_TIME)
		   errx(EXIT_FAILURE, "too early, wait until %s",
		       start_time_string);

     Warn of an error:

	   if ((fd = open(raw_device, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
		   warnx("%s: %s: trying the block device",
		       raw_device, strerror(errno));
	   if ((fd = open(block_device, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1)
		   warn("%s", block_device);

SEE ALSO
     exit(3), getprogname(3), strerror(3)

HISTORY
     The err() and warn() functions first appeared in 4.4BSD.

CAVEATS
     It is important never to pass a string with user-supplied data as a format without using '%s'.  An attacker can put format specifiers in the
     string to mangle your stack, leading to a possible security hole.	This holds true even if you have built the string ``by hand'' using a
     function like snprintf(), as the resulting string may still contain user-supplied conversion specifiers for later interpolation by the err()
     and warn() functions.

     Always be sure to use the proper secure idiom:

	   err(1, "%s", string);

BSD
								  March 21, 2001							       BSD